5 Reasons to Visit Seattle Right Now

Pike Place and the Gum Wall are both great places to see, but I decided to skip them on this trip along with the first Starbucks. With the itinerary I had in mind, there just wasn't enough time. This was my first visit to Seattle, but certainly not my last. I wanted to make sure that I experience Seattle in a different way and do things based off suggestions by friends and family versus TripAdvisor and Google.

From the flight to picking up our rental and checking into the hotel, our first night set the tone for the rest of the trip. Nothing short of amazing and the lush greenery was a refreshing change of scenery from the heat we're experiencing in LA.

Our home for the week was at Hotel 1000, where they greet you with champagne upon check-in and valet takes less than 5 minutes (every time). Service and staff went above and beyond for us during our stay and I highly recommend staying here when you're in town! Plus you're in downtown, close to the major tourist attractions, and the waterfront view isn't too shabby to wake up to.

To avoid lines and save time, we collaborated with the visitor's bureau of Seattle and CityPass. CityPass is a great option to save money on major city attractions and is offered in many cities, such as SF and NY. We went through 90% of the booklet on the first day, from the Space Needle to the zoo, we had a fun-filled afternoon.

The second day and beyond were spent traveling to destinations further away from the city, including Portland.We also ate quite a few delicious meals, which I'll do a separate post on next week.

Thanks to Drive Shop for our Mitsubishi Lancer for the week! I highly recommend getting a car if you plan to get the most out of the trip. It was such an easy process to pick and drop the car back off. Definitely one of my favorite ways to rent a car!

Seattle is absolutely gorgeous right now, the weather was perfect minus some rainy days but nothing too crazy. Even with the rain, the city was still beautiful and I'm certainly going to miss the views.

1. Views: The Space Needle, day and night, has a great view of the city. Of course, everyone knows this but the views I'll be missing the most are not of the city skyline. Instead, it is the views in and out of the city including the drives. Just driving down the highway with the trees and occasional ocean view, is so relaxing. Even the drive to Portland went by quickly, despite being 3 hours.

In addition to nature views, the architecture around the city will also be missed. The library is gorgeous to spend an afternoon in and various structures throughout the city which were absolutely photographable.

2. The Outdoors: Seattle made me want to go out, explore and actually walk around. Walking through Kubota Garden was the best stress reliever. I saw a couple of people reading in the garden, practicing speeches, and just embracing the present moment - without their phones.

Taking the loop trail at Discovery Park and ending up at the beach is another good way to explore Seattle. You can also bike on this trail and I believe the entire hike is less than 3 miles. You can wander down the beach strip to the lighthouse and enjoy the sunset with loved ones.

3. Food: Seafood is a must, although I regret not having clam chowder as I heard that was really good in Seattle. We had oysters for 3 days straight and I can eat more than a dozen myself. Don't ask me for the names of what we ate, all I remember is that they were all bomb! We had fish almost every night, lamb chops at a greek restaurant, and tried a few new drinks along the way. I'll elaborate more in my round-up of restaurants post (publishing soon).

4. Hospitality/People: I think it's safe to say that LA people aren't always the nicest and I've come to accept that reality. Seattle, on the other hand, was filled with such kind faces! I guess it makes sense when one of my best friends is from Seattle and she is absolutely the nicest person I've ever met. Every person we walked by said "hi" with a smile on their faces and held doors for you. People in LA don't always have the same mannerism; I'm not generalizing but rather speaking from what I've experienced living in LA for the last 28 years.

5. To Be Inspired: Lastly, I went to Seattle to re-inspire myself. As an influencer, we sometimes get creative block and so I had the itch to go somewhere. While we booked Seattle on a whim, we also were hoping that we'd see something that would put our gears to work. We fell in love with the city and already miss it so much, however we did come back with ideas and motivation to work harder. We also came back with bug bites and bad tan lines from hiking, but hey, that's a small cost for the experience we got.

Thank you to KSOLE for the amazing images throughout the trip and for always putting up with me! #LKTRVLS